Agency and Annotation (Miller) - Blog Post #6

    In “What Can Automation Tell Us About Agency?” Carolyn R. Miller discusses the topic of agency and how the presence of computerized systems to determine grades, evaluations, and scores has increased significantly.  Automated scoring systems are tools that we have seen being used in schooling systems much more frequently in the last 10 years.  No longer do teachers have to sit at their desk and grade quizzes or essays if they do not choose to, they can have a specialized computer function in their place.  In addition to how technology has changed the way evaluations and grades are assigned, the article goes into detail about how automation has changed how we present and give speeches in front of our peers.  Automation, agency, and rhetoric are three of the main concepts discussed by Miller.  When looking at the different aspects that are considered when giving a speech, some of the main things that come to mind are the speaker, the audience, and how both groups present their viewpoints.  Much of what makes a good speech includes how involved the speaker can make the audience - by this I am talking about the speaker being engaging, the audience appears to be listening, they have questions, and the like.  All of these interactions we see typically occur in in-person settings.  But lately, we have seen an increase in speeches and presentations given over online platforms.  Miller states that “Speaking strongly resists automation because we understand it intuitively as a performance, meaning that it is dynamic and temporal, that it requires living presence,” (Miller 145).  Automation changes the dynamic that has been typically present when given speeches. I think Miller argues that it takes away from the interactions and discussions that could occur had it not been online.  Publicly speaking to an online audience, whether they have their cameras on or not, does not allow for the same interactions as an in-person setting does - it changes the overall rhetoric of the conversations that happen.

    I thought this particular topic was an interesting one to look at.  Until coming to college, I had never really gone in depth about the topic of automation and all the concept entails.  But, I have since discussed it in many different dynamics.  This one in particular described by Miller I thought was extremely relevant to our world today.  The majority of meetings, presentations, and speeches that happen today occur over Zoom or other similar platforms.  Even our class for communication ethics is on these platforms.  Moving towards a more automated world that seems to be ever convenient for everyone has more negative consequences than I think we realize.  Presenting to an online audience, especially one where none of the participants have their cameras on, can be a very difficult task to take on.  There is far less engagement and the expectations of everyone seem to be lower because you are not all sitting in the same room.  It is interesting to me to look at and learn about how automation can completely change the rhetoric of the conversations that we have.  It makes me wonder where we will be in the future, as technology will only continue to advance and replace things that we once used to do ourselves.

Sources:

Miller, Carolyn R. “What Can Automation Tell Us about Agency?” Rhetoric Society Quarterly, vol. 37, no. 2, 2007, pp. 137–157., https://doi.org/10.1080/02773940601021197.